Sam Waterston Sets TV Return After “Law & Order”, Playing Former President in Jenna Bush Hager’s “Line of Fire”
Sam Waterston Sets TV Return After “Law & Order”, Playing Former President in Jenna Bush Hager’s “Line of Fire”
Brenton BlanchetTue, August 25, 2026 at 2:51 PM UTC
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Sam Waterston in July 2025Credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty -
Sam Waterston is returning to TV after his Law & Order exit
The actor will guest star as a former president in NBC’s Line of Fire, arriving in September
Campbell Scott and Chris Chalk have also been cast in guest roles
Sam Waterston is returning to NBC.
The Law & Order alum, 85, has been tapped to guest star in the network’s forthcoming drama Line of Fire, executive produced by Jenna Bush Hager, NBC confirmed. His inclusion in the cast comes over two years after Waterston concluded his tenure on Law & Order, following more than 400 episodes.
Campbell Scott and Chris Chalk have also been cast in guest roles. Deadline was the first to share the news.
Sam Waterston in ‘Law & Order’Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC/Getty
Waterston will guest as former President Thomas Barnes. The former commander-in-chief has a close connection to Secret Service agent Mike Hollingsworth (Peter Krause), whose family of law enforcement officers is on a mission to find an assassin. Per a description from Deadline, Krause’s character is “haunted by a close call from his time on detail.”
The series follows the Hollingsworth family as they tackle cases for their respective law enforcement agencies, per the show’s official logline — “After a seemingly cut-and-dry case turns into a deadly conspiracy, they must use the expertise from a lifetime of protecting civilians and politicians to protect one another and bring the killer to justice … even if it means betraying their sworn code.”
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Line of Fire also stars Kat Cunning, Hope Davis, Tommy O’Brien and Taylor Bloom, with creator Joshua Safran and Ben Spector serving as executive producers alongside Bush Hager. As for the two other announced guest stars, Chalk will play current President Kayana, while Scott will play Terry, a U.S. senator and boyfriend to Davis’ Jane, according to Deadline.
NBC announced in February 2024 that Waterston would be stepping back from Law & Order after 30 years as District Attorney Jack McCoy. He boarded the series in 1994. Speaking with PEOPLE at the opening night of Shakespeare in the Park in June, Waterston revealed that he “sometimes” tunes in to the show still, calling life since his departure “beautiful.”
“Well, we’ve been living our life, my wife and I,” he said. “And we’re very lucky where we live and then our family and our children. And they are thriving and it’s good.”
As for Line of Fire, Bush Hager previously shared the series was partly inspired by her own experiences growing up surrounded by the Secret Service during her father George W. Bush‘s presidency. Krause, 60, told PEOPLE in a statement, “I’m so thrilled and thankful to be returning to the NBC family with Line of Fire. The twists and turns of this family drama hooked me from day one, and I can’t wait for audiences to watch.”
“As a fan myself,” he added, “I can’t wait to get back to work to see what happens next.”
Line of Fire premieres Sept. 21 on NBC, with new episodes airing Mondays at 10 p.m. ET.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
